In late summer and early autumn, Sui's belly became increasingly noticeable.
It seemed that Prince Rui had not truly realized until now that the princess was pregnant with their baby. In the past, when he held Su Yi in his arms, his hands would mostly be placed on her waist and back, stroking her up and down. Recently, he often began to touch Su Yi's belly in a daze.
The Empress Dowager's birthday was just around the corner, and because it was not a full birthday celebration and the Empress Dowager did not like extravagance, no grand ceremony was held. All those who appeared at the palace banquet were members of the Celestial Family.
The Empress Dowager sat at the top and in the center, with the Emperor on her left, and below them were the princes, princes and their respective wives, as well as several princesses and their princes-in-law. The Empress was on the Empress Dowager's right, and below her sat the concubines from the harem, as well as some young princes and princesses.
Prince Rui and Su Yi sat at the front, only below Prince An and the Princess among their peers. Following closely behind them were the Second Prince and the Princess.
He is only the emperor's nephew, but he ranks before all the other princes. This is enough to show how much the empress dowager and the emperor value him. As for others, at least on the surface, they do not seem to be dissatisfied with this.
Last year, Prince Rui attended the banquet alone, but this year he brought his princess with him, who was pregnant with the future little master of the palace. The Queen Mother was happier watching this scene than receiving any gift.
The late Prince Rui was the youngest son of the Queen Mother. There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing an old person bury the young. The current Prince Rui looks and behaves like his father. The Queen Mother feels sorry for him because he has no father or mother, so most of her love is given to this grandson, and she also loves Su Yi as well.
Not long after the meal started, she had already rewarded Princess Rui with two dishes and frequently asked her about her appetite and whether she could eat more. No one else had ever received such treatment.
Regardless of whether they were jealous or not, no one really showed any sign of envy. Only one princess, about fourteen or fifteen years old, pouted and complained coquettishly: "Grandmother Royal has given all her heart to the princess and sister-in-law, and she doesn't give even a little to her granddaughter."
The Queen Mother pointed at her and said with a smile: "Little monkey, when you get married next year and bring your husband back to the palace to celebrate my birthday, not only two dishes, but the whole table of dishes from the Royal Grandmother will be given to you."
Everyone in the palace suddenly burst into laughter. The princess blushed and stamped her feet in shame.
The queen covered her mouth with her hands, still smiling as she spoke: "According to the imperial physician, Princess Rui's pregnancy is safe. I see that the princess has a rosy complexion and is full of vitality. I think there is nothing wrong with her diet. You can rest assured, mother."
"As long as it's safe," said the Queen Mother.
The Queen took action, and the Second Prince's mother said with a hint of sarcasm: "If there is anything wrong, I'm afraid that before we find out, Prince Rui will be more anxious than the Queen Mother, just look."
Everyone looked over where she pointed and saw Prince Rui pick up a small piece of tribute melon with a silver stick and pass it to the princess' mouth. Judging from his skillful movements, he must have done it more than once or twice.
No one paid attention to it before, so he fed it to her and Su Yi just opened her mouth and ate. But now with so many people paying attention to her, she felt that as a princess after all, it would be better for her to be reserved, so she refused to open her mouth and shook her head.
King Rui handed it to her twice, but seeing that she didn't take it, he had to take it back. He looked around at everyone expressionlessly, put it into his mouth, chewed it and swallowed it.
“You, you…” Seeing this scene, the Queen Mother nodded at him, shook her head and laughed. The others followed suit. Su Yi lowered her head shyly. For a moment, the atmosphere in the palace was harmonious and joyful.
In the right row, Concubine Li sat among the concubines, watching everything coldly.
Not long ago, she was the most favored concubine in the harem. Even the queen had to politely call her "sister". But in just a few months, all the favor she once received seemed like a joke.
Your Majesty has not stayed in her palace for several months. You should know that in the past, even if there was a new person entering the palace, Your Majesty would be greedy for novelty and favor her for a while, and he would still go to her place a few days in a month.
After entering the palace for more than ten years, Concubine Li has always been an evergreen in the harem. Even if a newcomer has temporarily stole the limelight, and new favorites have come and gone over the years, no one can shake her position as the favorite concubine.
Based on previous trends, everyone thought that she would always be favored, including Concubine Li herself.
No one expected that the emperor's neglect would come so ruthlessly and suddenly.
Concubine Li couldn't figure it out. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't figure it out. She had only verbally embarrassed Princess Rui a few times. How could His Majesty have the heart to treat her like this? Was all the affection they had for so many years fake
At first, when he didn't come, Concubine Li was holding back a lot of energy in her heart and wouldn't allow herself to bow her head. No matter if she was throwing things or taking her anger out on the servants in her own palace, when she was outside, she still held her head high and didn't give anyone the chance to ridicule her.
Later, as grievances and resentments accumulated, she began to curse Princess Rui, and even thought about finding a way to get rid of the piece of meat in her belly so that she could vent her anger.
If she were younger, she might have taken action.
The reason she didn't do so was because His Majesty came to her palace again, but only to see the little prince and princess and not to stay overnight.
Only then did Concubine Li suddenly realize that His Majesty might not have had deep feelings for her, and that she now had to take care of her children and could no longer do whatever she wanted as before.
But she has been proud for so many years, and now she has fallen to the point where she can only rely on her children like those old and ugly concubines to get His Majesty to look at her more. How can she be willing? How can she be willing
Concubine Li had a cold expression on her face, but her eyes seemed to be piercing out needles and stabbing straight at Princess Rui who was being watched by everyone, her gaze fixed on that stunning face.
She had always believed that in this world, when it came to beauty, if she considered herself second, no one could claim to be first, until that day when she met Princess Rui in the Queen's Palace.
How much of the embarrassment she felt from the first meeting was because he had snatched away her niece's marriage, causing her child to lose the powerful helper of the King of Rui, and how much was because of that face that even she had to admire? Perhaps even Concubine Li herself didn't know.
Looking at Princess Rui at this moment, she had only one dark thought in her heart. Was His Majesty protecting Prince Rui so much because he really cared about the brotherhood he had with the old Prince Rui, or was he also yearning for Emperor Xuanzong
Su Yi had no idea how someone was secretly plotting against her. She just ate and enjoyed the singing and dancing, occasionally turning her head to say a few words to King Rui.
As she was watching, a hand suddenly stretched out from her waist, supported her lower back, and rubbed it gently. King Rui leaned close to her ear and asked, "Are you tired?"
This man knew nothing about pregnancy before. When Su Yi was one or two months pregnant, she pretended to have morning sickness for a while. The maids were all very calm. They patted her back and served her tea. Only Prince Rui was frightened. His bronze skin looked pale. He immediately picked up the princess and put her on the bed, then ran out to fetch two imperial doctors from the palace.
They really carried them, one in each hand. Fortunately, the imperial doctors were knowledgeable and had seen a lot of things, so they were not scared.
Even though they later knew that morning sickness was common and most pregnant women would experience it, every time Su Yi vomited, King Rui would bring the imperial physician over and insist that he come up with a prescription to prevent morning sickness.
Later, Su Yi thought that even if she ignored Prince Rui's increasingly fragile nerves, she should also pity the two imperial physicians' old bodies and see if they could withstand such torture. So her morning sickness "healed without medicine", and subsequent symptoms such as cramps and edema also did not appear. That's why the imperial physicians repeatedly said that her pregnancy was very good and safe.
But a few days ago, Qinglian came to talk to her. Her belly was seven months old and it was difficult for her to walk. Prince Rui accidentally saw that she was holding her lower back with her hand and looked very uncomfortable whether she was standing or sitting. In the past few days, in addition to touching Su Yi's belly, he often supported her lower back with his hand, as if if he didn't do so, his princess would be too tired to sit still.
"It's okay, I don't feel tired. Just take care of yourself and don't get so close." Su Yi pushed him secretly.
Although she no longer cares about his excessive clinginess and doesn't feel embarrassed about it, after all, with so many old people with old-fashioned ideas watching her, she thinks it would be better for them to give others less stimulation.
It was a pity that Prince Rui listened to her most of the time, but at times like this he pretended to be deaf and just rubbed her waist.
Because the movement was a bit large, Su Yi noticed that Princess An next to her was looking at him.
Ever since she met Sun Shuli at Prince An's Mansion last time, Princess An rarely invited her to her house to avoid suspicion. However, when they met in the palace, he would still come over and talk to her gently, as if her cousin's husband had not been transferred to a remote place by the emperor because of Prince Rui.
At this moment, a hint of surprise appeared on Princess An's usually calm face. Her gaze stayed on Prince Rui's hand that was rubbing the princess' waist. It was not until her eyes met Su Yi's that she smiled subconsciously. Then she turned her head away as if she had come to her senses, looking a little embarrassed and uncomfortable, as if she had accidentally discovered something private.
Su Yi had expected this to happen. To avoid being seen by more people, she pushed King Rui again and said in a more serious tone than before, "Go back to your side."
King Rui took a look at her expression and then stepped back, but before he did so, he stroked her abdomen with his big hand.
In fact, Su Yi was a little slow in stopping it. Even though other people couldn't see it due to the angle, the people at the top could see it clearly.
The Queen Mother was distracted by the opera and was not paying attention to this side. The Queen saw it, but except for a deeper smile on her lips, her expression did not change. She just glanced and then looked away.
The emperor accidentally watched the whole process, including his nephew who came up to the princess and rubbed her waist. He refused to leave even after being pushed away by the princess. People thought he could be very tough, but when Princess Rui pushed him a second time, his nephew observed the princess's expression and then became scared. He withdrew his hand obediently, and touched the princess's belly reluctantly on the way.
So shameful.
The emperor took a sip of wine and couldn't help reflecting. His nephew grew up by his side. What went wrong to raise this little bastard
The author has something to say: I have been writing for so long, and this world has come to an end. Suddenly I found that the hero's name was not used. That's great. I will save it for the hero of the next world~
Thank you to the little angels who cast their votes for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution~
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